SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) -- General Motors Co. will pay back roughly $8 billion in debt to the United States and Canada before June, CEO Ed Whitacre said today.

That repayment schedule would be quicker than the automaker has promised.

Whitacre said in December that GM would pay back government loans extended to finance its restructuring in bankruptcy by June.

"I believe we're going to beat that date," Whitacre said in remarks to the Rotary club in San Antonio, Texas, where he lives.

"We have restructured and the progress that we've made, I believe, is sustainable," he said. "We're not being crushed under a mountain of debt. We have a cost structure that works."

Whitacre, who has shaken up GM's sales and marketing teams and pushed the top U.S. automaker for faster growth in sales, said there were positive signs that GM's U.S. market share was holding steady after years of decline.

"We're right at 20 percent, which is good," he said. "We'd like that to increase over time. I can't tell you a percent -- as much as possible."

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It will be good to get rid of the "government motors" and related comments. Some people will continue to hold the bailout against GM for years, but the sooner it is a thing of the past, the sooner the comments will begin to subside.

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It will be good to get rid of the "government motors" and related comments. Some people will continue to hold the bailout against GM for years, but the sooner it is a thing of the past, the sooner the comments will begin to subside.

I doubt it. People still think GM manufactures gas guzzling barges from the 70's.